2011-09-22 Is Keystone XL pipeline in US national interest?

The Canada Institute at

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Is the Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline in the National Interest?

The proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline would bring an estimated 700,000 barrels per day of oil from Alberta to U.S. delivery points of Cushing, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Up to 25 percent of the pipeline’s proposed capacity would be from crude produced on-shore in North Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma.

While Canada has already approved KXL, the pipeline’s construction continues to be hotly debated in the United States. The U.S. Department of State has promised a final decision on the fate of KXL before the end of the calendar year, and is now entering the final National Interest Determination (NID) phase of its permitting process.

Panelists will address the importance of KXL to future U.S. energy security; the economic benefits that can be expected from the project; how many jobs will be created by the construction and subsequent maintenance and use of the pipeline; the effect State’s decision might have on Canada U.S. relations; whether the pipeline will affect U.S. gasoline prices; and pipeline integrity issues.

Panel One: The Energy and National Security Perspective

Paul Sullivan, Professor, NDU and Georgetown
Lucian Pugliaresi, President, Energy Policy Research Foundation
Luiza Savage, Maclean’s Magazine (moderator)

Panel Two: Assessing the Economic Impact of Keystone XL

Jon Rozhon, Senior Researcher, Canadian Energy Research Institute
James Burkhard, Managing Director, Global Oil Group, IHS CERA
Elana Schor, Environment & Energy Daily (moderator)

5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center